To do this activity you will need a balloon and a marker. Please grab these items.
1 point
1
Question 1
1.
Step 1:Draw an S at the Bottom of the balloon.
Step 2: Draw an N at the Top of the balloon.
Step 3: Draw line at the equator.
1 point
1
Question 2
2.
Step 4: Start from the North pole and try to draw a straight line on the ballon WHILE ROTATING IT TO THE RIGHT
***A friend may rotate the balloon to the right for you while you draw a straight line down.
1 point
1
Question 3
3.
Step 5: Flip the ballon upside down so that the S is on top and do the same exact thing. Draw a line down the balloon WHILE ROTATING THE BALLOON TO THE RIGHT!
***A friend may rotate the balloon to the right for you while you draw a straight line down.
1 point
1
Question 4
4.
Grab a partner and do the experiment again with a partner. You can use the same ballon.
But this time have a partner rotate the balloon FASTER as you draw a line from the North pole to the equator.
Repeat this by flipping the ballon and draw a line from the South to the equator. Make sure your partner rotates the ballon fast as you draw the line.
Upload a picture of your balloon with the lines.
1 point
1
7 points
7
Question 6
6.
If something travels a greater distance in a short amount of time, it must be going faster. People closer the (North and South pole) will be spinning slower when compared to people at the _______ .
If we look at it all flattened out. Arrows at the equator travel _______ than arrows at the 90 degree line (North or South pole). A cloud at the equator will have the same velocity as the Earth and a gust of wind can sweep it to the North where the Earth is _______ spinning as fast, due to inertia the speed of the cloud remains the same but everything else around it moves _______ . So relative to the ground, the cloud moves ahead of everything else and appears to curve.
A cloud formed at the 45 degree line will have the speed as everything around it and will _______ down to the equator slower than the ground beneath it so it falls behind.
"Moving towards the equator always results in wind falling _______ ."
"Moving away results in wind moving _______ ."
Word Bank:
ahead
behind
drift
equator
faster
slower
1 point
1
Question 7
7.
Word bank:
clockwise
counterclockwise
cell
reversed
deflect
center
In a low pressure _______ , all the air around it is sucked into the _______ but the air coming from the equator will be traveling faster so it will _______ to the right.
Air coming from the poles will move slower so they will fall behind and deflect to the left. What this results in is a circular air current spinning _______ and that is exactly what hurricanes are. Low pressure cells spinning because of the coriolis effect.
Down in the southern hemisphere, things are _______ . A low pressure cell will still suck in the surrounding air, but now the air coming from above will move faster and move to the right. Air coming from below is moving slower and falls _______ to the left. This results in a _______ spin.
This is why storms in the southern hemisphere spin clockwise and storms in the northern hemisphere spin counterclockwise.
9 points
9
Question 8
8.
Jet streams is another name for fast flowing _______ of air. There are many jet streams that exists at both high/low levels in the atmosphere. Each has an important level to play in the _______ experienced in Earth.
The major jet streams that circle the Earth are just above the tropopause at a height ranging from 9 to 16 km and can reach _______ over 200mph. They are hundreds of kilometers wide but only a few kilometers deep. They are often described as a _______ of very strong winds.
The major jet streams are the _______ fronts and the subtropical _______ . These occur in both the Northern and Southern _______ and are a part of the larger global circulation. The polar front jet occurs over _______ & strongly influences the weather over the UK and Europe. The polar front jet is a type of thermal wind that arises due to the strong contrast of cold polar air and warm _______ air.
6 points
6
Question 9
9.
To explain this further, imagine 2 columns of air, 1 in the cold air to the North of the jet and 1 in the warm air to the South. The top of each column is bounded by the _______.
In the cold air column, the air is more dense. This causes atmospheric pressure to decrease more quickly with _______. In the warm air column pressure does not decrease as rapidly with height because the warmer air is less dense. Warm air *at the same height in the tropopause column has higher pressure than cold. The pressure difference caused by the temperature gradient creates a pressure _______ force.
The pressure gradient force acts from high to low pressure, so theoretically in the northern hemisphere, air would flow from south to north. But the _______ effect resulting from the Earth's rotation, causes air to move to the right of the direction of motion in the Northern hemisphere and to the _______ of the direction of motion in the Southern hemisphere. In both hemispheres, the jet stream flows parallel to this temperature gradient, moving from west to _______ .
5 points
5
Question 10
10.
Theoretically this jet encircles the Earth in a continuous line. But in _______ it is more broken up as differential heating of land and sea _______ lead west to east temperature contrasts as well as North to South.
As the polar jet forms due to the temperature contrast, the stronger the temperature _______ , the stronger the jet. This means that the jet is stronger in the winter than it is in the summer as the poles cool during the winter months, increasing the temperature contrasts.
In the northern hemisphere, the jet tends to be further south in winter and further north in summer. This is due to the _______ of the Earth & in the winter, the Northern hemisphere tilts away from the Sun. In the summer, it is tilted toward the Sun. Midlatitude low pressure systems occur on the polar side of the jet stream, while warmer _______ are found to the South.
6 points
6
Question 11
11.
A stationary jet stream pattern will bring _______ low pressure systems to the same region. When warm air moves further north than normal, or cold air moves further south this can change the prevailing west to east jet stream pattern. This causes the jet stream to _______ , driving depressions towards different regions or blocking their movement altogether.
A straight west-east flowing jet stream won't have much impact on the development of new _______ systems or strengthen pre-existing ones. When a jet stream meanders north and south, air accelerates and decelerates around the _______ in the flow. These areas of changing speeds are development areas.
Where the air is accelerating, more air is leaving than entering at a certain point. This means that air is being depleted at this point. To fill this depletion, air from below _______ . When air rises it forms clouds and _______ . Winds at the surface converge at this rising air column, which causes surface pressure to fall and a low pressure system may develop or deepen further.
Although a jet stream is a an area of fast-flowing air, it has a fundamental effect on our weather.